Failure Is an Option

“We’ve never lost an American in space; we’re sure as hell not going to lose one on my watch. Failure is not an option.”

– Astronaut Gene Krantz, played by Ed Harris,?in the movie Apollo 13?

?

“Failure is not an option.”

What a line, not just for a movie about an aborted moon-landing mission, but for all manner of business, sport and politics. It’s got American boldness, confidence and chutzpah coursing through every syllable.

But maybe we’ve been wrong about failure. Maybe it really is an option. It was, at least temporarily, for a long and star-studded list of failures:

Columbus never found Antilla nor much of anything else for which he set sail. His 1492 voyage was about the only thing that went right in his life. (You would have to say he pulled it out at the end.)

Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Bill Gates, Milton Hershey, Steve Jobs, Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan are the poster pioneers in the failure pantheon. (Of course, they also earned an asterisk to accompany their failures.)

Ever heard of Choglit, OK Soda or Surge? All rest peacefully in Coca-Cola’s brand graveyard after millions of dollars were spent in their development and promotion.

More than 90 percent of startups fail within three years. Among them MoviePass, CutCat, YikYak, Vessyl and Juicero, each of which for a brief time was valued in the financial stratosphere after attracting and then squandering millions of dollars in venture capital.

But here’s the thing: Entrepreneurs and innovators don’t view failure the same as so many others. They understand that a degree of failure in the innovation process is inevitable, often even valuable. As they say in Silicon Valley: fail faster.

But what if you’re so overwhelmed by a fear of failure that it’s affecting your performance and your quality of life? We’ve seen it happen to directors, general managers and senior managers in this business, and it’s always because those leaders are putting too much pressure on themselves and their clubs to be perfect. They want their facilities to look immaculate, their staff to serve with ultimate precision and their own performance viewed as flawless.

As we know, life doesn’t work that way. In the words of Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Dr. Bob Rotella, the respected sports psychologist who has worked with many of the world’s most successful athletes, as well as business leaders, wrote the book “Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect,” in which he points out that in their lives golfers are going to hit a lot more bad shots than good ones.

So, what do we do? We get up off the mat and punch back. We move on to the next shot, determined to make it one of beauty.

The business author Bernard Marr points out that the one thing that all “radically successful” people have in common is a ferocious drive and hunger for success that makes them never give up. That’s not to say they don’t believe failure is an option. It’s more likely that their success comes from another noble American characteristic: persistence.

They believe, as Winston Churchill famously implored in 1941 at Harrow School: “Never give in, never give in. Never, never, never. In nothing great or petty, never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

One suggestion if the possibility of failure is dragging you down: Redefine terms. Think of it this way: Success can be realized at a number of steps along the way to the ultimate goal. By setting milestones – with deadlines and quantifiable performance measures – you can achieve multiple mini successes, and in the process, avoid stress and anxiety along the way.

One more idea: Give yourself permission to enjoy the journey. One way to do that is to take pleasure in the knowledge and experience gained on the road to your goals.

As Rotella says: “Learn to love the challenge that comes with hitting a ball into the rough, trees, or sand. The alternatives – anger, fear, whining, and cheating – do no good.”

And, as for those “failures” we mentioned earlier – Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Bill Gates, Milton Hershey, Steve Jobs, Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan? They understood that the story of their lives and careers would not be written until they stopped trying.??BR

Henry DeLozier is a partner at GGA Partners. He can be reached via email: [email protected]